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shift from osaka, rockin' the house in shimokitazawa last night.

shifts' singer

shifts' singer

shifts' singer

shift

mayumi from miaou

miaou's (live only) very cute guitarist

some sound artist geeks in noise heaven

shimokitazawa station buskers

guess i'm gonna have to learn how to say "my name is on the guest list" in japanese soon. *\ o_o /* . really enjoying getting back into the swing of the live music scene. last night takaaki (wonderground records) and i met up with mayumi and tatsuki, from the band miaou for their show at club cave-be, in shimokitazawa. there were four other bands: fluid, shift, mayfly, sequence pulse and some sound manipulators doing crazy things with their apples and a variety of sound boards... two of the bands had come a long way to play their 30 minute set - the very excellent shift are from osaka, and fluid are from toyoku in the north. funny how common the band names fluid and shift are. anyways, shift were, as i mentioned, amazing, and their female singer was just hypnotic. the woman knows how to rock. miaou played another beautifully atmospheric set. their cd is such a grower. i listen to it daily now.

the live experience is very different here in japan, from a band perspective. basically it's a kind of pay-to-play deal, although if the numbers are there, then you can actually turn it around and get paid. the venue supplies top quality backline (drums, amps, mics, etc) and some promo but ultimately if each band does not sell a certain number of advance tickets, and then also there are not enough payers through the door as well, the band has to pay the venue an agreed fee. when people arrive to buy tickets at the door, they have to say who they are there to see, so that that band gets that ticket income off their bill.... am i making sense? it's a venue guarantee, instead of a band guarantee. certainly saves venue arses and keeps them open so everyone can keep using them.

unlike the hopeless situation in australia where its common for bands to book in a night, do no work to get anyone there and then watch the venue waste up to $500 just opening its doors for 10 people who drink coke or light beer all night, and wonder why the venue management get shitty. how australian venues can keep their doors open in such unfair conditions beats me. and then there's noise restrictions, dance clubs and spiralling insurance expenses....

phew, well that's enough of this rant from a lifestyle long gone. such a love/hate relationship i have with the music industry.....

frangipani wrote this on May 10, 2004 2:30 AM

frangipani said:

dear j, don't start me on that one, my friend. you do not have to tell me that a long guest list means the bands make no money from those bodies.

however, what goes around, comes around.

for a start, the bands who put me on their guest lists do so because i am almost always doing some kind of work for themm, usually for free. certainly, with miaou, i am going to set up a tour of australia for them in august. undoubtedly for absolutely no pay because they will be already losing an insane amount of money. i have also taken over 150 live photos of their shows for them to use for free, as they please.

secondly, i have spent the last 15 or so years (who's counting?) years working insane hours and sweating blood and living under the poverty line alongside and on behalf of the endlessly under-rated and unrecognised magnificent talents that play their souls out for beer and a few bucks /yen/euros/rupees/whatever every night in every fucking city of every fucking country in the world. it is so fucking wonderful when the odd few are actually recognised and discovered, like my dear old bud pete murray. (that's a link by the way, click on his name for more...) but for every one who can make a living from it, there are 1000 for whom it can only ever be a passionate hobby.

so you really don't need to be giving me a lesson on what "supporting the scene" means.

for the rest of you out there, though, heed J's words. and SUPPORT LOCAL, ORIGINAL, LIVE MUSIC whenever you can.

thanks j-ster!

don, with earplugs in i'm sure you'd love it!

On May 11, 2004 12:13 AM,

Due to the proliferation of comment spam, I've closed comments on all older entries. If you would like to leave a comment for this post, please email me directly at martine {at} frangipani {dot} info and I'll add it manually. Thank you and sorry for any inconvience caused.

Don Simons said:

Martine, you used the word "music" a couple of times? Thank God I didn't arrange to meet you on a Saturday night!! But I like the idea of the performers having to pay for people to listen to them!
From Uncle Don on the other side of the generation canyon.

On May 10, 2004 10:32 AM,

J said:

Calm down girl, i didn't meant to offend anybody!
Here in Spain most guest lists are filled with people who has friend working for a record company or for the press (who will not cover the gig). Ok, that's not your case...
I know that most groups are playing for nothing, or in the best cases, just earning enough to cover the costs, thats why i told you so, obviously i misdirected the shot.

On May 11, 2004 6:28 PM,

dear j, so sorry to jump down your throat like that, a total over reaction. you just touched my passion, that's all... and you were right to be protective of the scene. the guest list thing is so over done. anyway, i'm really sorry.

On May 12, 2004 3:30 AM,

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